羽 (yǔ): feather, 5th note in pentatonic scale
羽 (yǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “feather.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 习 (structural) and 习 (structural). It ranks #1846 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 羽 two feathers or wings. Its radical form 羽 (feather) appears in many related characters such as 翻 (fān, to turn over), 耀 (yào, brilliant), 翁 (wēng, elderly man).
Definitions
- feather
- 5th note in pentatonic scale
Etymology & Origin
pictographicTwo feathers or wings
Decomposition: ⿰习习 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 羽 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 羽
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 羽毛 | yǔ máo | feather |
| 羽翼 | yǔ yì | wing |
| 羽田 | yǔ tián | Haneda (one of the two main airports serving Tokyo) |
| 羽绒 | yǔ róng | down (soft feathers) |
| 铩羽而归 | shā yǔ ér guī | (idiom) to return in low spirits following a defeat or failure to achieve one's ambitions |
| 党羽 | dǎng yǔ | henchmen |
| 羽化 | yǔ huà | levitation (of Daoist immortal) |
| 项羽 | xiàng yǔ | Xiang Yu the Conqueror (232-202 BC), warlord defeated by first Han emperor |
| 国际羽毛球联合会 | guó jì yǔ máo qiú lián hé huì | International Badminton Federation |
| 放射性烟羽 | fàng shè xìng yān yǔ | radiation plume |
| 羽毛球场 | yǔ máo qiú chǎng | badminton court |
| 羽状复叶 | yǔ zhuàng fù yè | bipinnate leaf (in phyllotaxy) |
| 关羽 | guān yǔ | Guan Yu (-219), general of Shu and blood-brother of Liu Bei in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, fearsome fighter famous... |
| 威凤一羽 | wēi fèng yī yǔ | lit. one phoenix feather |
| 爱惜羽毛 | ài xī yǔ máo | (idiom) to cherish one's reputation |
羽 appears in 48 compound words: 52 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 17 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 羽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
老师教我们羽字的发音和笔顺。
lǎo shī jiào wǒ men yǔ zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .
The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "羽."
恭喜!杨筑云林芷均闯奥尔良羽赛冠军战
gōng xǐ ! yáng zhù yún lín 芷 jūn chuǎng ào ěr liáng yǔ sài guàn jūn zhàn
Congratulations! Yang Zhu and Lin Zhijun Advance to the Final of the Orleans Badminton Tournament
奥尔良羽赛/不敌泰国甜心 头号种子邱品蒨首轮落马
ào ěr liáng yǔ sài bù dí tài guó tián xīn tóu hào zhǒng zǐ 邱 pǐn 蒨 shǒu lún luò mǎ
Orléans Badminton Tournament: Top Seed Chiu Pin-chien Upset in First Round by Thai Sweetheart
Ray Online|颜汶羽选举落败转跑道 加入港专学院担任助理教授
R a y O n l i n e yán 汶 yǔ xuǎn jǔ luò bài zhuǎn pǎo dào jiā rù gǎng zhuān xué yuàn dān rèn zhù lǐ jiào shòu
Ray Online|Yan Wenyu lost the election and changed the track to join HKCT as an assistant professor
德国羽赛/林俊易轰垮印度前球王 携戚又仁闯男单...
dé guó yǔ sài lín jùn yì hōng kuǎ yìn dù qián qiú wáng xié qī yòu rén chuǎng nán dān . . .
German Badminton Tournament/Lin Junyi crushed India's former ball king and broke into the men's singles with Qi Youren...
德国羽赛/麟榤配轻取对手晋男双16强 李哲辉与...
dé guó yǔ sài lín 榤 pèi qīng qǔ duì shǒu jìn nán shuāng 1 6 qiáng lǐ zhé huī yǔ . . .
German Badminton Tournament/Lin Yu easily defeated his opponent to advance to the men's doubles round of 16 Li Zhehui and...
他尝了尝羽衣甘蓝。
Tā cháng le cháng yǔyīgānlán.
He tasted the kale.
玛丽做了羽衣甘蓝藜麦沙拉。
Mǎlì zuò le yǔyīgānlán límài shālā.
Mary made a kale and quinoa salad.
「你今天想吃什么？」「我又想吃羽衣甘蓝了。」
「 nǐ jīntiān xiǎng chī shénme?」「 wǒ yòu xiǎng chī yǔyīgānlán le.」
"What do you want to eat today?" "I fancy kale again."
鸟儿身上铺满了白色的羽毛。
Niǎor shēnshang pū mǎn le báisè de yǔmáo.
The bird is covered with white feathers.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 羽 (yǔ) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 羽 have?
What is the radical of 羽?
What are the components of 羽?
What are common words containing 羽?
What characters sound the same as 羽 (yǔ)?
Is 羽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 羽 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.